Oliver Davis reviews 2000AD Prog #1894…
Borag thungg, Earthlets! This week’s Prog has space explorers, baby-killing gods and blue zombies. Colour-wise, that is; they don’t have the capacity to feel sadness. Unfortunately, it’s a dip in overall quality for the Galaxy’s Greatest Comic from the last few months, but there’s still fun to be had.
Like with Brass Sun, which remains one of 2000AD’s hottest properties (sun pun intended). After weeks of building tension and plot, the gang have finally reached their goal: the elusive ‘gaseous clay’ they’ve been trusted to collect. Their minders, however, have now turned on them, with the bulk of this episode staging a fire-fight between the two sides. INJ Culbard’s artwork is, as always, quite fantastic. The floating rock they find themselves on is bathed in blue light, creating a wonderfully simple colour palette. Appearance here becomes intrinsically connected to the world-building itself.
Sadly, there is one complaint, and it pertains to the art itself. Conductor Seventeen looks incredibly similar to another of their accomplices and, especially within a simplified palette as in this issue, they appear almost identical. Previously, these resemblances have been fine, but the concluding twist of this week’s installment relies on you being able to distinguish the two.
A similar problem abounds in Black Shuck, with the strip’s cast of almost exclusively ‘men with big beards.’ This week provides some welcome exposition, explaining the central curse behind the Jotunn’s attacks. The village’s treasure is stolen from the grave of the Jotunn King, who sends his minions every night from the Underworld. The revelations helps understand these people’s plight – their guilt from greed has physically manifested in the Jotunn threat. If only this was conveyed sooner in the series, the strip might be more enjoyable. Unfortunately, this inciting incident may have been established too late to overcome.
Overcoming is just what Aquilla intends to do to the mad emperor Nero in Carnifex. The strip builds on last week’s issue, realigning Aquilla’s allegiances to the Christians of Rome. Not much else is accomplished other than a bit of clunky backstory (Aquilla let Simon of Capernaum live back in Jerusalem) and the revealing of a new foe – the rather terrifying Mater Clementia, “WHO BORE A HOST OF CHILDREN IN SECRET, DROWNING EACH OF THEM AT BIRTH IN THE TIBER.” Nice. Leigh Gallagher’s art somehow manages to outdo Gordon Rennie’s gruesome words. Four dead-eyed infants cling to a skeletal woman, her face covered in a skin-like veil. Yet another new monster for Aquilla to battle.
The monster in this week’s Dredd strip, Cascade, is Mega City One itself. Michael Carroll’s latest story begins the tale of Indira Knight – a space explorer returning home after an 87-year expedition in the stars. She went to “SEE THE FUTURE AND EXPLORE STRANGE NEW WORLDS – I JUST NEVER EXPECTED THE STRANGE NEW WORLD WOULD BE EARTH.” The central conceit is how her past (only one year ago for her, thanks to the ‘time-dilation’ effect) contrasts with Mega City One’s present. A journalist asks her what sort of wallaby she would be in her first press conference; smoke from an explosion billows atop a towering housing blocks. This isn’t the brave future she imagined to which she’d return. Reading Dredd from week to week acclimatises you to its dystopian environment. Providing Knight’s perspective is a clever way to see the future’s grime anew, emboldened by Paul Marshall’s deliciously crisp art.
Scrotnig Tale of the Week
Jaegir’s Circe takes the top spot for the second week in a row. Rennie’s dystopian vampire future is densely populated with backstory and ideas, not dissimilar to the rich, enchanting tapestry of Game of Thrones. You hear about a battle, or an ancient bloodline, and your curiosity receptors fire into overdrive. What battle with Nu Earth? Why were the soldiers blue there? How did the ‘Dollmaster’ come to be?
And it’s all based on a terrific central character: Atalia. It’s refreshing to see a woman so completely embody the ‘Man With No Name’ archetype (obviously, with a few tweaks – she has a name). Her real thoughts and emotions are kept hidden, shrouded in political, ambiguous statements. What she speaks aloud often runs in complete contradiction to her inner narration, echoing the duplicitous, detective mind of Bruce Wayne/Batman. Tharg the Mighty evidentially holds this series in equally high-esteem; the first arc ‘Strigoi‘ will be published in the US as a one-shot, released on 27th August. Buy it.
Oliver Davis is one of Flickering Myth’s co-editors. You can follow him on Twitter (@OliDavis).
